iWork for iCloud beta now live for registered Apple developers

First announced on Monday in the WWDC 2013 keynote, the iWork for iCloud beta is now live for registered developers to preview. Essentially, this is Apple's answer to Google Drive's online document editing tools, and promises almost the same experience as the desktop versions of the iWork apps.

The main difference here is that Windows PC users can also take advantage. Windows users are also iOS users, so iWork for iCloud is sure to be of benefit to anyone without a Mac that uses iWork on their iOS devices. It also promises to be compatible with Microsoft Office documents, with a simple drag and drop mechanism demonstrated for importing them.

iWork for iCloud is scheduled to launch openly this coming fall, but registered developers can take the new service for a spin over at beta.icloud.com right now.

iWork for iCloud beta now live for registered Apple developers

So does this mean they put all their effort into clouding iWork and are leaving the desktop versions out in the sun for another year to see if the spoiled smell goes away? I would really love to see Apple beef up Pages and Numbers. With a bit more competitive office suite they could make many think twice about being married to MS.

Man, I REALLY hope Apple gets serious about services - and telling folks what's really going on. I hope developers hammer the iCloud guys at WWDC this week...they need to take this back to Cupertino and the drawing board, or hire the talent to fix sync, silent email filtering, and core data brokenness. I'm not even asking for innovation (my ass), I just want it to work. Steve said so in 2011. :-)

I'm not a developer and not sure how useful iWork for iCloud will be for me, as I have all Apple devices. However it would be outstanding if it allowed collaboration, including comments and direct edits to documents.